The software company Skylum has announced that it will not be releasing any new apps this year. But this should be done with the new engine Neo Luminar, which you can buy here, to be considered with a total of seven extensions by the end of 2022. The app for easily implemented professional photo editing already offers numerous possibilities for enhancing and editing digital photos. This also includes the HDR functions added in July and the AI help for noise removal, which will be updated in August. With the expansions in November and December, the seven new options should arise.
Chapter in this post:
Luminar Neo is set to evolve from an app to a platform
Skylum aims to make Luminar Neo a one-stop creative photo editing platform. The current and upcoming expansions serve to continue the new vision for Luminar Neo and set a new mark for the future of Skylum. By the end of 2022, Skylum will have released a total of seven expansions - the company has now announced this.
Following the release of HDR Merge in July and the forthcoming release of Noise Free AI in August, there are four more additions in November and one in December. Skylum also offers a more flexible payment method and introduces a subscription to Luminar Neo and any expansions released during the subscription period. A special price can be used in the Early Bird subscription.
Skylum's Luminar Neo aims to be the one-stop solution for photographers
Luminar Neo's platform will help Luminar artists grow and create content, according to Skylum's latest press release. Luminar Neo will be extensively expanded by the end of 2022. This expansion marathon already started in July, as already shown above. Exactly which innovations will come in November and December remains a surprise for the time being.
Rauschfrei AI will be released on August 30th, with the next four additions to be announced in September and October. A "very special" extension will also be delivered in December. Noise Free AI is the second addition to the series that offers seamless noise reduction based on AI technologies for digital photos.
Buy Luminar Neo: Subscription model or individual purchases are possible
In order to regularly get all extensions at the best price, Skylum is introducing a more flexible price and product purchase model - the company also shows this. Luminar Neo will therefore be available both as a standalone product and as a subscription with paid add-ons. The monthly or annual subscription, available starting today, includes the Luminar Neo App and any extensions released during the subscription period.
The Lifetime License and 2022 Extensions Pack for those not keen on subscriptions are also available. Luminar Neo's regular performance and feature updates are of course included with all payment models. For example, among the updates available for everyone is the long-awaited clone and stamp tool, which will be available in Luminar Neo by the end of September.
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Old and new solutions should round off the offer
Adding extensions is the natural continuation of Luminar Neo's innovative problem-solving path, Skylum says. Reference is made to features such as Sky AI and the like, which already offer creative solutions to common editing problems. Sky AI transforms e.g. B. a gray sky that dulls the mood of the photo into "an exciting and vibrant centerpiece" of the photo (AI Sky Enhancer was already part of Luminar 2018 and has been further developed since then).
Relight AI ensures that the photo is well lit and takes the depth of the photo into account with smart AI algorithms (see video above). Masking objects is easy with AI recognizing and masking up to nine separate elements in the photo. This is all possible thanks to Luminar Neo's brand new engine, which gives the app an unlimited number of possibilities to give creatives more editing tools and power.
"This year, Luminar will reach its full potential and become a platform. That's why we don't release a new version, but continue to improve the existing product. With our new professional AI extensions, photographers can now get even more superpowers for their creativity and excellent image quality.— Evgen Kushnirchuk, CPO of Skylum.
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After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.
This has become a real rip-off company. Only every year a “new” program. But now there are mainly subscriptions anyway. No thank you. I will use Luminar 4 until I can't anymore.
I bought Luminar AI and NEO and Luminar AI is easily enough for my needs. However, the upgrade from 4 to AI was quite good. You can argue about the payment options, but it's the case with many programs that you update them every year. Parallels Desktop does the same thing... but I wouldn't call it a rip-off. And: There is still a one-time payment option next to the subscription.
Yes, unfortunately I can only agree and have only used Neo as a plugin for me. Fine tuning is still missing as the main tool. Everything is a bit rough in the result: colors too strong, sharpening too high, etc. Has a few good features that can be added. – Pricing policy is extraterrestrial; 2 years one program and then the next one. Launched at full price but half mature. Experienced 4 times now. And the extensions now: I can't find a test version and actually they should be part of the main program, but then it would be so expensive that no more customer acquisition could be done with it. Like in the car industry: base price and then you pay for every extra. But not four times the basic price like here. No thanks!
Hello Stefan! I agree with you about the extensions. That has to be part of the program. I like to use my Luminar AI often, but paying something here and there every year for extensions is too much for me too.
Luminar is definitely unsuitable for serious (semi-)professional work. You get results quickly, but most of the time they look too colorful, oversaturated, oversharpened and artificial. If you take the time and effort to tone everything down so that it looks reasonably natural, you can also use a proper RAW developer and image editor.
Skylum's business model isn't exactly a scam, but they always fall far short of their promises. So I'm definitely not ready to buy a pig in a poke by paying for the seven expansions they plan to release this year. First of all, the only thing I know so far is that one of the extensions is a noise reduction tool built into Neo, the other six are for...hmm, what exactly are they for? I want to know what I'm getting for my money before I spend it.
Somehow certain programs manage to draw attention again and again. Too bad that a really professional tool - like ON1 - falls through the cracks. Would be worth a meeting.
Hello Kai-Uwe! Thanks for the hint. The tool looks exciting. I'm asking if they'll buy me a key for a meeting. Otherwise I'll buy it myself. And I need another 48 hours a day to do it all. 😊
Hello Kai-Uwe,
I can explain the “somehow” to you: Some companies rely a lot on public relations and we here at Sir Apfelot are in direct contact with Skylum, so that we are informed about certain news by e-mail. This certainly applies to other blogs and tech websites as well.
At the moment I am not personally in contact with the creators of ON1 - but Jens has already written that he is trying to do so. I only found out about ON1 through your comment, before that the app was completely unknown to me. Thanks for that, I might check out the demo :)
Best regards
John
Hi Jens,
hello Johannes,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm curious to see what evaluation of the program you come up with. I've been using it as a photo designer for several years now, having switched from Lightroom to Capture One to this tool with its fair pricing policy.
Greetings from Freiburg
Kai-Uwe